480 PISCES (OSSEI) MALACOPT. [LEPTOCEPHALUS. 



seas*. Common in the Mediterranean, and well-known as the Mureena 

 of the Romans. Said to live with equal facility in fresh and salt water, 

 though principally found at sea. Is very voracious. 



GEN. 63. LEPTOCEPHALUS, Gronov. 



168. L. Morrisii, Gmel. (Anglesea Morris.) 



L. Morrisii, Gmel. Linn. torn. i. part iii. p. 1150. Turt. Brit. Faun. 

 p. 88. Mont, in Wern. Mem. vol. n. p. 436. pi. 22. f. 1. Leach, 

 Zool. Misc. vol. in. p. 10. pi. 126. Flem. Brit. An. p. 200. Cuv. 

 Reg. An. torn. n. p. 358. Deere in Loud. Mag. of Nat. Hist. 

 vol. vi. pp. 530, & 531. Ophidium pellucidum, Couch in Loud. 

 Mag. vol. v. pp. 313, & 742. Anglesea Morris, Penn. Brit. Zool. 

 vol. in. p. 158. pi. 25. no. 67. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. m. p. 212. 

 pi. 28. 



LENGTH. From five inches to six inches and a quarter. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Body ribband-shaped, extremely thin and com- 

 pressed, semipellucid : greatest depth, which is tolerably uniform through- 

 out, diminishing only near the head and tail, one-twelfth of the entire 

 length : thickness (according to Montagu) not exceeding the sixteenth 

 part of an inch : head small ; the profile sloping a little downwards from 

 the line of the back, which is nearly straight: snout short: jaws nearly 

 equal: teeth (according to Montagu) numerous, and all inclining for- 

 wards : eyes large : gill-opening, a small transverse aperture before the 

 pectorals : lateral line straight, and nearly in the middle : sides of the 

 body marked with a double series of oblique lines which meet in the 

 lateral line at an acute angle ; these lines are parallel to each other in 

 the same series, and the angles formed by their union with those of 

 the other series are directed forwards : dorsal commencing a little beyond 

 one-third of the entire length, low and rather obscure, the rays ex- 

 tremely delicate, and not easily counted : vent about the middle t : anal 

 commencing immediately behind it ; in form, similar to the dorsal : both 

 dorsal and anal are carried on to the extremity of the tail, where they 

 unite to form a caudal: pectorals extremely small, scarcely a line in 

 length, but sufficiently obvious, if carefully sought for : ventrals wanting. 

 (Colours.) Pale colourless white, with a row of minute black dots along 

 the margins of the back and abdomen : a few similar dots, arranged in 

 a longitudinal series, down the mesial line of each side. 



First discovered, in the sea near Holyhead, by the late Mr. William 

 Morris, who communicated it to Pennant. Has been since met with in 

 several instances in our seas. Four specimens taken near Beaumaris, 

 by the Rev. Hugh Davies ; one by Mr. Lewis Morris, at Penrhyn Dyfi ; 

 two by Mr. Anstice in the river Pervet, near Bridgewater ; one by Mr. 

 Deere, at Slapton, near Dartmouth ; and four by Mr. Couch, on the coast 

 of Cornwall. Mr. Thompson has also recently recorded the occurrence, 

 at different times, of six specimens on the coast of Ireland. The pectorals 

 are so small, as to have been thought wanting by Pennant, a circum- 



* A species of Murcena, three feet in length, is figured in Nash's " Collections for the History 

 of Worcestershire" (vol. i. p. Ixxxvi.), along with some other fish from the Severn, but nothing 

 positive is stated respecting its capture, or the circumstances which have led to its being intro- 

 duced into that work. It appears not very dissimilar to the M . Helena described above. 



t So it appeared to be in the specimen examined by me. Montagu says, "situated a trifle 

 nearer the head than the tail." 



